PM Netanyahu's remarks at the start of his meeting with US President Joe Biden

PM Netanyahu's remarks at the start of his meeting

  •   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to US President Joe Biden, at the Start of their Expanded Meeting: "This will be a different kind of war because Hamas is a different kind of enemy."
  • GPO/Avi Ohayon
     

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, (Wednesday, 18 October 2023), at the start of his meeting with US President Joe Biden:

     

     

    "Mr. President, Joe, I want to thank you for coming here today and for the unequivocal support you have given Israel during these trying times. A support that reflects the overwhelming will of the American people. I have seen your support every day in the depth and breath of cooperation that we have had since the beginning of this war. A level of cooperation that is truly unprecedented in the history of the great alliance between our two nations. We see that support in your steadfast commitment to provide Israel with the tools we need to defend ourselves, we see that support in the clear message you send our enemies not to test our resolve and in the two American carrier battle groups you sent into the region to back up those words with action.

     

     

    “But above all, Mr. President, the world sees that support in the moral clarity that you have demonstrated from the moment that Israel was attacked. You have rightly drawn a clear line between the forces of civilization and the forces of barbarism. You described what Hamas did as sheer evil. It is exactly that. Hamas murdered children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children, they burnt people alive, they raped and murdered women, they beheaded soldiers, they searched for the secret hiding places where parents hid their children. Just imagine, Mr. President, the fear and the panic of those little children in their last moments as the monsters discovered, found out their secret hiding places. Hamas kidnapped women, children, elderly, Holocaust survivors. I know you share our outrage on this and I know you share our determination to bring these people back.

     

     

    “On October 7th, Hamas murdered 1,400 Israelis. Maybe more. This is in a country of fewer than 10 million people. This would be equivalent to over 50,000 Americans murdered in a single day. That’s twenty 9/11s. That is why October 7th is another day that will live in infamy.

     

     

    “Mr. President, you rightly said that Hamas is worse than ISIS. The German Chancellor, who visited here yesterday, said that Hamas were the new Nazis. You’re both right. And just as the civilized world united to defeat the Nazis and united to defeat ISIS, the civilized world must unite to defeat Hamas. I can assure you, Mr. President, Israel is united to defeat Hamas and we will defeat Hamas and remove this terrible threat from our lives. The forces of civilization will prevail, for our sake, for your sake, for peace and security in our region and in the world.

     

     

    “Mr. President, for the people of Israel there is only one thing better than having a true friend like you standing with Israel and that is having you standing in Israel. Your visit here is the first visit of an American president in Israel in a time of war. It is deeply, deeply moving. It speaks to the depth of your personal commitment to Israel. It speaks to the depth of your personal commitment to the future of the Jewish people and the one and only Jewish state. So I know I speak for all the people of Israel when I say thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for standing with Israel today, tomorrow and always."

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